Disequilibrium of T Helper Type 1, 2 and 17 Cells and Regulatory T Cells During the Development of Experimental Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis

Overview

Journal Immunology

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2009 Sep 11

PMID 19740344

Citations 34

Authors

Lili Mu

Bo Sun

Qingfei Kong

Jinghua Wang

Guangyou Wang

Shujuan Zhang

Dandan Wang

Yumei Liu

Yixi Liu

Huixia An

Hulun Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG), an animal model of myasthenia gravis (MG), is a rare organ-specific autoimmune disease targeting the autoantigen nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). We show here that the balance of T helper type 1 (Th1), Th2, Th17 and regulatory T (Treg) subsets of CD4(+) helper T cells were redistributed during the development of EAMG and that the interleukin-17 (IL-17) cytokine is involved in this disease. The ratio of Th17 cells changed most notably with disease progression accompanied by an up-regulated level of IL-17. Moreover, the proliferative ability of AChR peptide-specific T cells and the anti-AChR antibody-secreting cells increased when stimulated by IL-17 in vitro. These findings suggested that the disequilibrium of the CD4(+) helper T-cell subsets could promote the development of EAMG, and the pathogenic mechanism by which Th17 cells drives autoimmune responses by secreting cytokine IL-17 provides a new target for myasthenia gravis therapy.

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